The Cryopolitics of Reproduction on Ice: A New Scandinavian Ice Age

Abstract

This book series brings together scholars from across the social sciences and humanities who are working in the broad field of human reproduction. Reproduction is a growing field of interest in the UK and internationally, and this series publishes work from across the lifecycle of reproduction addressing issues such as conception, contraception, abortion, pregnancy, birth, infertility, pre-and postnatal care, pre-natal screen and testing, IVF, prenatal genetic diagnosis, mitochondrial donation, surrogacy, adoption, reproductive donation, family-making and more. Books in this series will focus on the social, cultural, material, legal, historical and political aspects of human reproduction, encouraging work from early career researchers as well as established scholars. The series includes monographs, edited collections and shortform books (between 20-50,000 words). Contributors use the latest conceptual, methodological and theoretical developments to enhance and develop current thinking about human reproduction and its significance for understanding wider social practices and processes.

Not of women born

“…1 2020 gender and the body allows for the preservation of an idea of 'reproductive sex/gender 1 ' that manifests itself not only in transgender parental recognition, but also in fertility preservation practices. Arguably, this gendering of the reproductive body not only complicates the intelligibility of pregnancy in men, it also affects the biomedicalization of transmasculine bodies in terms of whether or not future (in)fertility becomes a focal point Kroløkke et al, 2019).…”

“…Across the globe fertility preservation, in the form of the cryopreservation of reproductive cells and tissue, is gaining attention as a means of preventing involuntary childlessness, including in relation to gender affirmative treatment (De Sutter 2001;2016;Kroløkke et al 2019;WPATH 2011). As an anticipatory practice aimed at preventing the (potential) trauma of future infertility, the advancement of fertility preservation options can be understood as part of the biomedicalization of (in)fertility, initiated with the technologizing of assisted reproduction, as well as contributing to the specific valorization of genetic kinship (Adams et al 2009;Mamo 2007).…”

“…In Denmark, as demonstrated by Kroløkke et al (2019), gamete preservation is regulated by a normative, gendered framework through which sperm has become a highly mobile and commercialized substance, while eggs are restricted, in particular by a 5-year storage rule, but also by a ban on donation, lifted in 2006, and selling. Importantly, in 2012, the law was amended to allow exemptions to the 5-year rule in the case of disease.…”

“…Due to the 5-year rule, the freezing of unfertilized eggs, also only a robust technology since 2012, is not a particularly widespread practice in Danish public hospitals and in the case of diseases such as cancer, it is increasingly common to freeze ovarian tissue Kroløkke et al 2019). In contrast to egg freezing, ovary preservation does not require oestrogen stimulation, a process found to be particularly uncomfortable in the context of transmasculinity (Armuand et al 2017).…”

Freeze-and-share: New schemes, old ethics?

“…Egg freezing, at least when done for no obvious medical reason, remains a morally controversial practice for a number of different reasons. For one thing, critics worry that egg freezing may harm future children by promoting current trends of delaying pregnancies, leaving children with parents who have less energy and fewer years to live for a critical discussion of this view see example 9,10 . However, the practice of egg freezing is distinct from the practice of giving discounts on freezing in exchange for eggs.…”